Health Psychology

Compare and Connect Stress, Coping and Intra- & Interpersonal Factors and Health
Across Health Conditions
To conclude Module 1, you will build a document in which you compare and connect the module topics across
health conditions and with healthy individuals. Below are suggested formats for this Assignment. Creativity and
thoughtful effort is encouraged. This type of Assignment helps with integration of learning and will help you
develop a deeper and broader understanding of the topics of the weeks, your specific assigned health
condition, as well as of the other major health conditions that affect the U.S. population.
Re-read the Week 2 and Week 3 Discussion contributions posted by you and your group members.
Note similarities and differences in what you and others found for the factors studied both weeks in this
module. Why are there differences? Why are there similarities? Are they explained by the characteristics of
each health condition? What other factors may have played a role? Draw conclusions from what you’ve read
on the boards, and also include your own thoughts on what may explain your conclusions.
Organize your findings by factors (stress, coping, personality, etc.). Use subtitles to help you stay focused and
help your Instructor grade effectively.
Compare and connect is a higher-order critical thinking skill. Review the Learning Resource, titled “Writing a
Paper: Comparing and Contrasting,” before you begin your Assignment.
By Day 7
At the end of the module (Week 3), write a brief, focused paper, or create a well-organized table in which you:
Compare and contrast your findings for your assigned health condition with that of others in your team, based
on your collective findings in the group Discussions.
Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Module 1 Assignment Rubric
Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity
To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Module 1 Assignment draft and review the originality report.
Submit Your Assignment by Day 7
My name is Alzahraa Hassona. My assigned health disease is Heart disease and I will send you my posts from
Explain the bivariate (one-on-one) and multivariate (combined) relationships between heart disease and
personality, resilience/grit, and religion/spirituality.
Recent extensive research shows that socio-behavioral factors are related to the prevalence of heart disease.
Regarding personality, it has revealed that Type-A behavior pattern among individuals is a high predictor of
heart disease. Other factors such as resilience and religion/spirituality, however, are not causally related to the
prevalence of the disease but are important in helping the patients to cope with its effects.
The impact of heart disease on social relationships
Research reveals that involvement in social relationships is fundamental to health (Koenig, 2015). An individual
with heart disease will often strain physically, emotionally, and financially, which may affect their involvement in
social relationships. Given that these connections to others can give meaning and purpose to life, such
individuals are encouraged to maintain these relationships whenever possible to help in dealing with the
impacts of the illness.
The impact of social support on heart disease
Social support is essential in helping individuals to adjust to illnesses, given that it benefits both mental and
physical health (Taylor, 2011). Regarding heart disease, social support has indirect effects through enhanced
mental health, by fostering a sense of meaning and purpose in life as well as reducing the impact of stress for
a patient (Schwartz, Michael & Rapkin, 2017). Also, it may trigger physiological sequelae such as reduced
heart rate and blood pressure, among others.
Using the PERMA Theory of Well-Being to understand and integrate all we learned this week
According to the theory, five blocks are important in enhancing well-being. It recognizes that human beings do
not only want to survive but aim at thriving. Hence, they are more concerned about achieving higher levels of
well-being given its myriad benefits in the real world. In this regard, we can appreciate human beings are
unique and exhibit qualities that may increase or limit their well-being (Friedman & Kern, 2014). However, in
efforts to limit an individual’s stress and increase their well-being, one can embark on embracing the tenets of
the theory as it has been associated with a plethora of benefits. They include having stronger immune systems,
reduction in cardiovascular mortality, and having overall better physical health, among others.